Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of detecting an environment of a moving body.
Description of the Related Art
There has been suggested a technical method of detecting the presence of a traffic participant such as a passerby or any other vehicle around an own vehicle by using a sensor such as a radar or an imaging device mounted on the own vehicle and predicting the possibility of contact between the own vehicle and the traffic participant on the basis of the relative position and relative speed (including the moving direction) of the own vehicle and the detected traffic participant (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-179929
In the case, however, where the presence of the traffic participant around the own vehicle is suddenly detected such as a case where a person hiding behind a large vehicle having been parked or stopped in front of the own vehicle abruptly appears, it is difficult to predict the possibility of contact between the own vehicle and the traffic participant. This may lead to a difficulty in the vehicle behavior control for avoiding the contact between the own vehicle and the traffic participant present around the own vehicle, such as the braking and steering control of the own vehicle based on the prediction result.